Location - Northern Yukon

Dates - Sept 24th to October 5th

Outfitter - Blackstone Outfitters (Jim & Adrienne Fink)

Rifle - Winchester M70 .375 RUM (270 gr TSX, 105 gr H4831SC)

Went on a moose hunt in the northern Yukon with Blackstone Outfitters. Also having tags for caribou, bear, and sheep if time and luck permitted. Took my usual crew. Me, my brother Albert, my dad (the hunter), and my grandfather. Floated the Ogilve and Peel Rivers for 11 days (75 Kms total). Grandpa stayed in base camp, and the rest of us froze our asses off. Weather was as bad as they had ever seen it up there during this hunt. Pretty cold, and a constant light snow. We still had a good time, and the operation is very well run. We will definitely be going back looking for that big one. Saw moose, but nothing worth shooting (we were being a little picky). We were the only guys that didn't tag out. All the other hunters took moose, most of them very nice. A few grizzlies and caribou as well.

Left the big cameras and lenses at home, and just took my new Sony RX100 and the camcorders. Took more video than stills. So here is the video. about 15 mins long. Let me know what you think.

https://vimeo.com/76808546




a few stills.


Heading out from Whitehorse to Dawson


One of only a couple nice sunsets we had.


a nice break from Mountain House


my brother, my dad, and me


Here we are with our guide, Norm, on the gravel bar waiting to be picked up.


Weather was too bad to fly, so we had to stay an extra day on the gravel bar. Built a little shelter to get out of the snow. Day can get pretty long with absolutely nothing to do (we had just left the concession area also)


funny how things can change in a second. we got the call that the pilots were coming to get us. I think we packed up camp in record time! here I am with my brother crammed in the back of Jim's super cub for the flight back to camp. Sure enough we saw a nice bull (from the air) in the exact spot we had been the day before.


Here we are reunited with grandpa. With only about an hour left to catch the charter back to whitehorse. plenty of time


amazing country up there. we will return!

thanks

on a side note...

Bought one of these before we left on this trip

http://www.inreachdelorme.com/...t-info/inreachse.php



And it worked great! Have rented sat phones before and they worked ok, but I think this is a great option to consider. Basically sends messages (via satellite) to either SMS, email, or another Inreach device. and of course the SOS function is in there as well.
there is a monthly service fee, pretty minimal for the basic plan.

also sends your location to the person receiving the message (gps coordinates as well as a link to a map). you can also set it up to send your location at given intervals. comes with preset messages, or make your own presets, for example

"just checking in. everything is going good. love you"

or type whatever you want out. takes a while (think of texting on an old flip phone or similar). but it can be paired with a smart phone for easier typing and some other cool stuff.

It also connects / sends / receives much faster than I expected. makes it nice for battery life.

During the 12 days we were out in the bush, I turned it on at least twice a day. and we used only about 5% of the battery.

funny thing is when we got to camp, the outfitter had just equipped the entire staff with these same units. they also had nothing but good things to say.

Sorry for the lack of success but sounds like you had a great trip with the family. Thanks for the tip on the In-Reach as well. I will look into it... not a big fan of the sat phone.

Sounds like a great trip regardless if you tagged out. I need to look into that "InReach" unit. Seems very practical.

Also - Was that a wolverine at about 9:15 in the video? If so that's pretty awesome, I want a wolverine pretty bad!

yup, it was a wolverine. couldn't get situated for a shot quick enough, then we saw him again up the river swimming across. again no shot... pretty cool to see though.

Great still photos. What did you use for the still pics?

Thanks, I'm very happy with the quality also. It's a new camera for me, a Sony rx100. Dslr quality in a nice small size. Didn't feel like lugging around the 7d ok this trip. Just not worth it sometimes.

Beautiful places here

Great video and pics, Love the Yukon. I agree on the Inreach, they are a great tool.

Thanks for sharing.

Bobby you're all class brother!
From the time I read your hunt report to Zim and you bringing your whole family...and seeing this again on this expedition,,,yet not tagging out...but the sheer ENJOYMENT of the event...speaks volumes to me about your character!

Awesome brother!

TRUE HEART OF A ADVENTUROUS HUNTER AND FAMILY MAN...The Pinnacle of Life!!!

Bless you brother!

Roland